Dogs and Homeowner Associations

June 29, 2010 | By Kelley Koehler | Filed Under Home Buying, Homeowner Associations 

I love dogs.  Especially big dogs.  Unfortunately, big dogs and Homeowner Associations don’t always mix.

Especially those condo and townhouse homeowner associations.

It’s fairly common to find pet restrictions in HOA governing documents.  If you’ve got a large dog – say 50 pounds or more, you need to make especially sure you’re reading through those association documents carefully.  Often, the HOA will limit you to a certain number of pets, or to pets only under a certain size.

Typically, when you buy a condo or townhome here in Tucson, you get a copy of the association documents.  What normally happens is that the HOA moves very slowly, and you don’t get those documents until you’re nearly through with the home purchase.  So you could be well through your inspections, ready to close, and find out your 75 pound Fido isn’t allowed to live in your soon-to-be-new condo.

To add to the fun, those governing documents aren’t especially easy to get when you’re in the pre-contract stage.  Some of the larger HOA management companies in Tucson will provide you a copy – for a fee of around $250.  Sometimes, you can hunt down the person who does the association management and ask them directly.  Sometimes, the listing agent knows, or can get a copy of those documents from the Seller – assuming the seller kept their copy.  Often, they don’t have one anymore, and there’s no guarantee the rules haven’t changed in the meantime.

So just tread carefully, you Tucson condo buyers with large dogs.  And do your due dilligence carefully.

photo courtesy of the Digital Muzzle

Comments

2 Responses to “Dogs and Homeowner Associations”

  1. Jack on July 1st, 2010 8:56 pm

    Why would anyone want to stuff a BIG dog into a small condo? It’s a kind of torture that dimwit dog owners don’t seem to understand. Maybe put a Great Dane in a grocery shopping cart inside a hall closet for a week !!

  2. Harry on July 2nd, 2010 1:52 pm

    Not only is it important for a prospective owner to understand a condo’s pet rules, the buyer should review all the rules, covenants, restrictions for him or her self prior to closing. A condominium is a home but it is not a house and it’s important to understand what you are and are not permitted to do. The system in AZ where you don’t get the documents prior to closing unless you pay dearly for them makes no sense.

Got something to say?







Get Blog Posts Via Email!

Search this Site

Loading

Other Information That Might Be Helpful

  • Rising HOA Fees (December 1, 2008)

    I was showing a few luxury condos here in Tucson the other day and got into an HOA fee discussion.  After doing a little research, we discovered condo community where the fees have more than doubled over the past 3 years, from the low $100s to the high $300s.  Which isn’t an insignificant increase over [...]

  • Solar Panels and HOA Restrictions (June 4, 2009)

    Local Architect Jake Boen over on his In Place Architecture Blog had a good post the other day about solar panels and HOA restrictions.  On it, he explains that while many CC&Rs (HOA rules) restrict solar panels, Arizona state law doesn’t actually allow them to do so.
    I hear a lot of interest from my clients [...]

  • Valley Fever in Dogs (April 30, 2009)

    This is my brown boy Floyd.  He’s been a proud member of the Housechick family since 2000 when we adopted him from FAIR, the Foundation for Animals In Risk.
    A couple of years ago, he was diagnosed with Valley Fever – fairly common in dogs, at least in my experience.  We didn’t catch it until his [...]

Equal Housing Opportunity Realtor
Clicky Web Analytics